


Can't Feel My Legs

by kennamckenna



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Captured Keith, Captured Lance, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, Lance (Voltron)-centric, Lance can't feel his legs, Langst, M/M, Multi, Slow Burn, after a while Hunk knows what to do because Lance told him, based off a fan art, hunk and Shiro help Lance, keith is freaking out, lance tries to tell them what's wrong but he gets tuned out, mermaid lance, that he has nightmares of this, that i really like, they are in a battle
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-06
Updated: 2018-05-27
Packaged: 2018-11-28 11:13:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 13
Words: 8,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11416749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kennamckenna/pseuds/kennamckenna
Summary: During a battle with the Galra on a desert, Lance can't feel his legs. He starts to panic and he tries to tell everyone that he's hurt. No one listens. Soon things get worse and finally, people start hearing his struggle.





	1. Chapter 1

Sweat. Lance feels sweat drip down his face. He feels more dehydrated than ever. He has never been this dehydrated. Shiro was screaming at him to watch his surroundings and get his head in the battle. Lance did as he was told. He started to shoot at the Galra. But something was wrong. Usually he was shooting directly at the enemy, or close to the enemy. His shot was sent no where near them.

"Seriously, Lance? Why do you even call yourself the sharpshooter if you can't even aim straight?" Shiro said, Lance knew that he didn't mean that. He knew that Shiro said that because he was just in the heat of the battle. 

"S-sorry. I wasn't really into it at the moment." Lance said, his voice shaking. 

"Yeah of course you weren't." Shiro said. Disappointment filled his voice. 

Lance let out a deep breath and started to shoot more. The Galra wouldn't stop coming over to where they were. Lance just had to fire at them and walk backwards. Nobody was doing any better that he was. Shiro used his prosthetic arm to destroy the Galra but they wouldn't stop coming. Keith tried to use his sword to slice them up, but it didn't stop them from coming. Hunk and Pidge teamed up to distract the Galra, Hunk shot at them and made the Galra look at him, then Pidge shocked them unconscious with her weapon. 

Lance could feel his legs starting to shake and get weaker with each step. He thought that it will be fine, no big deal. But it wasn't until when Lance fell, and he couldn't feel his legs. When he tried to stand up, he just fell down again. 

He whined in panic and looked around for anything to grab on. There was nothing. He turned his com on and called to the others. "Guys something happened to-" he got cut off by Shiro.

"Whatever happened isn't important right now, there are still more Galra out there and we need to fight." Shiro growled. 

Lance turned his com off and slammed his fist on the ground. Why would he suddenly think that they would care about him. I mean, they only think that he's the jokester of the group and only hits on the ladies. What they don't know is that Lance is actually selfless, caring, sweet, and is homesick. 

Lance got interrupted by feeling tingling sensations in his legs. His eyes grew wide and turned his coms on again.

"Please! There's something wrong with me-" Gasp. He suddenly felt burning. "I can't feel my legs. I can't stand up. Please I need help." Lance said, desperately. 

Everyone listened to Lance in concern. Hunk and Pidge both shared a look with each other and then looked at Shiro with a upset look. They both ran towards Lance.

"We're coming for you, buddy! Everything will be alright." Hunk said. Hunk knew exactly what was happening. Lance told him a nightmare in the Garrison, that he couldn't feel his legs and he turned into a mermaid. He knew that dreams could come real. He studied it. 

Keith felt panic rise in his chest, and it felt like he couldnt breathe. 'Was Lance hurt?' Keith thought. He didn't want to think that Lance was hurt. But he knew that something was wrong. Keith ran with Hunk and Pidge.

Reality finally woke up in Shiro. His eyes were wide and he felt so guilty. He can't believe that he ignored Lance. He ran with the rest of the paladins. 

Once they got to Lance, Lance was wheezing. He was clutching his throat and clenched his eyes shut from the pain. Hunk picked him up. 

"We have to go get him to the castle quickly. I know what's happening. Hurry!" Hunk said as he was already running to his lion. 

Blue felt Lance's distress and flew herself to the castle.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hunk fills a huge tank with water. Shiro is freaking out because he doesn't know what is happening.

Once they all got back to the castle, Lance was gasping for breath and he was beginning to grow unconscious. 

"Lance! Stay awake for me, buddy! Come on, you can do it." Hunk's reassuraning voice said. 

Lance tried and tried to stay awake. He could feel himself slowly slip away after second and second. Hunk looked down at Lance in panic. 

"Allura!!! I need the biggest tank you can find!" He shouted and Allura gasped at Lance and ran to find one. 

"Hunk? Why do you need a tank?" Shiro asked. 

"No time for questions! Help me get his suit off of him." Hunk said in a frantic manner. 

Shiro nodded and sat next to Hunk and started to quickly but gently pull his suit off. It was hard to pull off the black bodysuit that was under the armor. 

Allura came back with a tank that was big enough for a human but even bigger. "Do you have a hose or something that can help put water in here?" Hunk asked Allura.

"I do actually. Let me go get it." Allura said and walked away quickly. 

"Why do you need a tank filled with water?!" Shiro shouted and panic started to fill his voice. 

Hunk as going to say something but was cut off by Lance coughing and struggling for air. Lance had tears starting to stream down his face. Hunk ran his fingers through Lance's hair. 

"It's going to be okay. You're going to be all right." Hunk said. 

Shortly after Hunk said that, Keith and Pidge ran in. "Is he doing okay, Hunk?" Pidge asked as she walked to them. 

"Not really. Allura needs to hurry up. I don't know if he can take any longer." Hunk said. 

Right as Hunk said that, Allura walked in with the hose and connected it to the wall. "I have the water. Sorry, it was quite hard to find." She said as she pulled the hose along with her. 

"It's okay, Allura, you made it just in time." Shiro said. 

"What's happening to him, Hunk?" Keith asked. 

"I think it's something but I might be wrong so I can't really say for sure." Hunk said. 

Shiro ran over to where the hose was connected to the wall and turned the hose all the way up. Hunk smiled at Shiro for doing that and started to fill up the tank. While doing so, he occasionally put some water on Lance to keep him cool. 

Lance shivered and stopped wheezing. His eyes were starting to feel heavy. Hunk saw this and began to fill the tank faster. Once it was full, he called out to Shiro. 

"Help me bring him in, Shiro!" Hunk shouted and Shiro ran over quickly. 

They both picked him up and heard Lance groan. "You're going to be okay, buddy." Shiro said. 

The bottom half of Lance was covered in water already. Lance whimpered at the pins and needles in his legs. "Keep his hips submerged!" 

"Why do I- What are you doing?!" Shiro shouted. Hunk had Lance's entire body in the water. Keith looked at them in panic and ran over to Hunk. 

"What are you doing?! Stop!" Keith shouted and Pidge put a hand on Keith's shoulder to calm him down. 

They all looked at Lance. Lance then gasped when he felt the water all around him. His eyes were wide open. Everybody stared at him in shock. But something weird was happening. 

Lance could feel something changing in his legs. Then, a bright blue light filled the room and made everybody blind for a second. The light was gone in a matter of seconds. Everybody rubbed their eyes to make the blind spots go away.

When everybody opened their eyes again and looked at Lance, Lance had a mermaid's tail. Shiro jumped into the tank and looked down at the tail. His ears had fins on them. He had gils on his neck. He had blue spots all over his chest and face. Everybody looked at him in shock. 

"Lance?" Shiro asked.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "What happened to me?!" Lance panicked as he looked down at his tail.
> 
> His eyes were wide and tears were starting to come out of his eyes.

Lance opened his eyes and brushed his hair out of his face. Shiro had a look of shock on his face. Lance looked up to see everyone had the same facial expression. 

"What happened? Why are you staring at me like that?" He asked, his words kind of slurring. 

Nobody said anything so that made Lance more anxious than he already was. He looked down and he saw a blue/green thing on him. 

Lance gasped in shock and and then looked at his hands that had blue that was the color of the sea dots on his hands. 

"What happened to me?!" Lance panicked as he looked down at his tail.

His eyes were wide and tears were starting to come out of his eyes. No one could see the tears but Lance felt them. He started to shake in panic and Shiro wanted to help him so much. 

So he did. 

Arms came into the water and Lance looked up at the arms and saw that it was Shiro's. Lance felt his bottom lip tremble. 

Then, Shiro's arms wrapped around him to comfort him. Lance started to full on sob. Shiro pulled him up from the water so that his chest was out. 

Everyone ran up to him and Hunk rubbed his back as Shiro held him. "Hunk?" Shiro asked.

"Yeah? What is it?" Hunk asked. 

"Do you know if or when he can change back?" Shiro asked nervously. 

"I-I don't know. This never happened, only in a dream that he told me." Hunk said.

"Well, we have to change him back!" Keith shouted. 

"Keith! Calm down. We will change him back, we will find a way." Shiro said, calmly. 

Keith huffed and crossed his arms and looked to the left, not wanting to make eye contact with anyone. 

"Maybe, we can go to another planet that has a medicine or something that can help him change back because if we can't find anything, we can't form voltron." Pidge says. 

"I got it! It's a planet called Iapetus. There is a river and in the river, there is crystals that you can crush and it will make the medicine that he needs. The river is called, The River Of Thea." Coran said. 

"Okay! I'll take Lance in my lion since my lion is the biggest out of the other four lions. When we get there, someone will have to stay with him in my lion. Everyone got it?" Shiro said.

Everyone in sync said, "got it!" Shiro nodded and said, "everyone get into their lions!" 

Everyone went to the lions and Shiro stayed there and looked at Lance with worry. 

"We're going to get you back to normal, Lance. It's okay." Shiro said. 

Lance looked up at him and hugged him. Shiro ran his fingers through Lance's hair to comfort him. Lance's mother used to do that and that made Lance miss home even more.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In Iapetus, the three out of five paladins go on the search to find The River Of Thea and get the crystals. Keith stays with Lance because Shiro needs Hunk and Pidge's quick thinking and brains.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so so so sorry that it took this long to upload another chapter. I will try to update sooner. Thank you :)

Everyone was in the black lion. Everyone was looking at Lance worriedly as he continued to almost drift off. Hunk softly shakes him when Lance drifts off again. Lance's eyes open slowly and he lets out a whine. 

"I'm tired, Hunk. And I'm scared. What if the crystals don't work? What will happen next? Who will fly blue?" Lance asked. 

Keith let out a harsh sigh and looked down at the floor of the black lion's cockpit. Everyone looked at him, except for Shiro because he was piloting black, and gave him a questioning look. Keith saw this and ran his hand through his hair. 

"It will work. So, stop saying it won't." Keith said, sharply. 

Lance decided to stop talking the rest of the trip. He knew that Keith was mad, but why? Was he mad because they can't form Voltron and stop the Galra? Lance feels horrible because he can't do anything about it. He has to depend on others to take care of him because he's in this tank filled with water. They could form Voltron right now if they didn't have Lance with-. Lance got pulled out of his thoughts when Shiro said, "We're almost at Iapetus. Pidge, Hunk, get ready, you're coming with me. Keith, stay here." 

Keith looked at Shiro with shock written all over his face. "What?! Why?! Why do I have to stay with him?" Keith said and out venom on the word 'him'. Shiro sighed and tightened his grip on the handles. "Because, I need Hunk and Pidge's quick thinking and brains if we have any problem getting the crystal. Also, if anyone tries to get by the lion, you have your close combat skills to defend the lion and Lance. Got it?" Shiro said as he landed black on the ground of Iapetus.

Keith looked aggravated but nodded his head and agreed with Shiro. "Got it." Keith said. Shiro got out of the chair and put his hand on Keith's shoulder. "Thank you, Keith." He said and then put his hand off Keith's shoulder. Keith nodded and watched Shiro, Hunk, and Pidge leave the lion. 

Lance didn't want to deal with Keith's rudeness right now. He had enough to deal with as it is. But, rudeness didn't come out of Keith's mouth. Lance could tell that he was mad but surprisingly, Keith didn't take it out on Lance.

"A-are you okay? It must be hard dealing with that." Keith asked and looked at Lance's tail. Lance was shocked to see how nice Keith was being. When Lance didn't say anything, Keith gave him a blank stare. 

"O-oh! Um, it's definitely weird and uncomfortable. I'm nervous about what might happen and I might be panicking." Lance softened his voice for the last part. 

Keith sighed and sat next to the tank that Lance was in. He put a hand on Lance's shoulder and didn't care that it was wet. Keith felt like he needed to comfort Lance. Lance blushed and looked at the water in the tank. Keith tightened his hold on Lance's shoulder but not too tight to the point where it would hurt. 

"It's going to be okay, you know? They are going to find that crystal and transform you back into your human form." Keith said. 

When Lance looked up at Keith, his eyes grew wide at the smile on Keith's face. The smile was so soft and it made Lance feel safe. Lance never saw Keith smile before but he knew that it was genuine. Keith knew that he needed to do more to make Lance calm. 

Hunk once told Keith that Lance liked his scalp massaged because his mom used to do it when he was a little kid. Hunk specifically said, "When his mom used to massage his scalp, Lance would fall asleep almost instantly." So, Keith took the opportunity to do so. 

Keith raised his hand that was closest to Lance and put his fingers through Lance's hair. Lance's breath hitched and said, "W-What are you doing?" His voice was higher than usual. Keith shushed Lance and scratched Lance's scalp lightly. 

"It's okay, just calm down." Keith said with a soft voice. Once, Keith started to massage Lance's scalp, Lance's eyes fluttered closed and his breathing went to normal. Lance looked so peaceful. Keith felt Lance lean into his touch and let out a soft moan in delight. 

Keith blushed but didn't stop what he was doing, but he decided to go into the tank as well. When he stood up, Lance's eyes opened and asked, "Where are you going?" He sounded like a little kid that just woke up from a nap. 

Keith smiled and looked at him with fond in his eyes. "I'm coming in there with you to make this easier for both of us." Keith said. Lance made a 'oh' sound and scooted up to make room for Keith. Keith got in and pushed Lance's chest towards him so Lance's back was pressed against Keith's chest armor. 

Lance sighed in content and closed his eyes again. Keith put he one leg on one side of Lance's body and the other one on the other side. With the arm that was not working on Lance's scalp, wrapped around Lance's waist to keep him in place. Everything was set, and Keith started to massage his scalp again. 

Lance felt himself slowly drift off with every stroke of Keith's fingers. Keith noticed this, and smiled and made the massage softer. Lance's breath got slower, until the point where you could tell that he has fallen asleep. Even though Keith noticed this, he didn't stop what he was doing because he knew that Lance needed this, even in his sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro, Hunk, and Pidge got the crystal from The River Of Thea. Once they got back, they all saw something that was quite surprising.

"Oh my god, Shiro, Pidge, there are alligators in here. This is scary." Hunk said with a soft voice. Shiro sighed when he heard Hunk. He decided to help Hunk find the crystal. 

Once he got in the river, alligators swarmed at his feet but didn't do anything. I guess alligators here aren't dangerous like the ones back on Earth, Shiro said in his head. 

"Hunk, they're harmless. They won't do anything to you. Just keep trying to find the crystal." Shiro said. "Still, I don't trust these guys. They could do something anytime." Shiro heard Hunk say in the coms. 

Then, Hunk crouched down to look at one type of crystal. It was the first crystal that they had seen this whole day. The crystal looked like it was glowing with a light blue color filling up the water. 

"Is this it?" Hunk asked as he picked up the crystal. The crystal was so bright that Hunk had to look away from it. 

Shiro went up to Hunk and looked at the crystal. He examined the crystal and saw that it was the same color as Lance's tail. 

"It has to be it. The blue that glowing from the crystal is the same color of Lance's tail." Shiro said. Hunk nodded and put it in a brown pouch to keep it safe. 

Shiro pressed on the coms to contact Pidge. "Pidge, we found it. Meet us at the front of the river in the direction of the black lion." Shiro said. 

"Copy that." He heard back from Pidge. Hunk was already ahead of Shiro. Shiro was proud of Hunk. He knew that Hunk would be fast to find it. 

Once they all got back to the black lion, they all saw quite the surprise. "What the quiznack?" Pidge said. 

What they saw was Keith in the tank with Lance leaning against him, both asleep. Shiro smiled fondly, glad that the boys got along. Hunk went over to the tank and gently shook both of them awake. 

"Guys, wake up. We found the crystal." Hunk said, softly. Lance's eyes fluttered open and smiled at Hunk. 

"I knew that you would find it, big guy." Lance said, voice a little slurred from sleep. Then, Lance felt a arm around his waist, looked down, and blushed. Keith's arm was still around him. 

Even though Keith was still half asleep, he noticed and let lance go. "I guess I should get out." Keith mumbled and got out, armor dripping with water. 

Hunk opened the pouch and set the crystal on the floor of the cockpit. Lance had to cover his eyes from the blinding light. "Sorry, man." Hunk said, apologetically. 

"So, does anybody have anything that we could crush the crystal with?" Shiro asked. Keith handed him the sword that formed from his bayard. 

"Use my sword, it might do the job." Keith said. 

Shiro grabbed it and looked up at Keith. "Thank you, Keith." Shiro said and started to crush the crystal with Keith's sword. 

Once the job was done, Pidge took out a bottle filled with water. 

"When we were at the river, I took some water, so we could put the tiny pieces of crystal in here and Lance could drink it. Coran said something to me about how it will dissolve in the water once crushed but it will still help Lance." Pidge said. 

"Thank you, Pidge. That was a really amazing thing you did for us." Shiro said. 

Shiro put the pieces of the crystal in the water and yes, it did dissolve all the way. Hunk did a little dance of victory in place. Lance smiled fondly at him and shook his head. Keith tapped Lance's shoulder and handed the cup to him. 

"Drink." Was all Keith said. 

"I got a towel because you might be naked but once you transform." Pidge said. 

Lance blushed and smiled nervously. At least he was turning human again. Everyone watched Lance drink the water, hoping that this would work. 

But nothing happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun dun dun!!! Cliffhanger hehe


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nothing happened when Lance drank the water. Is he going to be a mermaid forever?

Nothing happened. Everyone waited for five minutes but nothing still happened. Lance felt tears form in his eyes. He didn't want to feel useless. He wanted to help the others form Voltron and defeat the Galra. Everyone saw a tear roll down Lance's cheek. Shiro went up to Lance, gently moved Lance's head, and put the side of his face against Shiro's chest as Shiro held his upper body. 

Everyone heard Lance's sobbing. Hunk almost looked close to tears. Keith felt awful because he told Lance that they were going to find the crystal and that its going to work. Pidge looked at the cup that was still in Lance's hand. There had to be something wrong, he can't be like this for forever, Pidge thought. 

"I don't want to be useless to the team. If I am stuck like this, I can't do anything. A-and I won't be able to help." Lance cried. Shiro didn't want Lance to feel this way. Shiro wanted Lance to be happy. Not to feel like he was useless. 

Pidge came up to the both of them and grabbed the cup from Lance's hand. Lance pulled his head away from Shiro and looked at Pidge in confusion. "Drink more of this." Pidge said and held the cup up to Lance's lips but didn't let go. Lance opened his mouth and he felt the water go in his mouth. He tried to swallow quickly because Pidge was going to give Lance all of the water in one drink. 

Once all of the water was gone, Pidge took the cup away from Lance and Lance gasped for air. "He could've choked, Pidge!" Keith shouted. "Sorry, but it had-" Pidge was interrupted by Lance whimpering. Hunk went by Lance and cupped Lance's face in his hands. "Are you okay?" Hunk asked. Lance pointed to his tail. "It hurts." Lance whined in pain. 

"Does that mean it's working?" Hunk asked to the other paladins. Everyone shrugged. Lance took in a shaky breath and Keith ran his fingers through Lance's hair to calm him down. Lance let his head rest on the tank and squeezed his eyes shut in pain. Shiro kissed Lance's forehead and whispered, "It's going to be okay." Against his forehead. 

After a sharp gasp, there was a tiny splash in the water. Everyone looked down and saw legs in the water. Lance had a little smile on his lips but you could tell that he was tired. "I have legs!" Lance slurred and blushed as he realized that he was naked. Keith blushed as well and looked away. Shiro saw this, shook his head, and helped Lance stand up in the tank. Lance's legs were shaking and if it wasn't for Shiro, he would of fell down. 

Pidge handed Shiro a towel, and Shiro wrapped Lance in it. Then, Shiro picked Lance up in bridal style and Lance rested his head against Shiro's chest. Lance was shivering and had his eyes closed in tiredness. 

"Since I have to pilot the black lion, someone has to hold him and make sure that he is okay. Who will that be?" Shiro asked. Right after Shiro asked, Keith raised his hand up. Shiro, Hunk, and Pidge laughed and Shiro nodded. "Alright, you take him." Shiro said and passed Lance to Keith's arms. 

Keith was surprised that Lance was light. He would think that he would be heavier because of the muscles he has. Keith blushed when Lance nuzzled his head into Keith's chest. "Awe, Keith's blushing." Pidge cooed. Keith just gave her a blank stare and Pidge laughed. Keith turned his attention back on Lance and ran his fingers through Lance's hair again. 

Lance moaned and said his name. Keith's eyes widened, he blushed, and looked down at Lance. Lance had his eyes opened slightly and he was smiling up at Keith. Keith smiled back and sat down while holding Lance so that Lance was laying across Keith's lap. "Didn't think that you would be so romantic." Lance teased in a tried voice. 

Keith laughed softly and watched as Lance's eyes widened. "You laughed! You should laugh more often. It looked good on you." Lance slurred and closed his eyes. Hey look, I'm cradling you again and I hope you remember this time, Keith thought. Keith got snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Lance snoring. He looked at Lance with fond written all over his face. 

In the front of the cockpit, Hunk and Pidge were fangirling at the sight. Hunk and Pidge kept on poking each other to make sure that they were both watching. Shiro looked at the two fangirling and shook his head and smiled. 

Everyone saw when Keith hesitated to kiss Lance's forehead but he did. Hunk and Pidge looked at each other in surprise and did a little victory dance. Keith pulled back from Lance's forehead and said to himself, I love you Lance.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maybe this problem will appear more than once.....

Once all of the paladins got back, Coran checked Lance's vitals. Everything was fine. But something came up that was quite worrying. 

"This may happen more than once, him turning into a mermaid." Coran said, as he was looking at Lance's vitals. 

"What do you mean, more than once?" Shiro asked. 

"Well.....he needs to be hydrated more frequently and he can't be training for too long, or strain himself in battle. If he doesn't do those things, he will most likely turn into a mermaid again." Coran said. 

Shiro sighed and everyone looked down at Lance, with a worried expression. What if the Galra uses this against him? 

~a few hours later~ 

Lance's eyes started to flicker open and he groaned in soreness. Keith jumped up from the couch in surprise and ran towards Lance. 

Lance smiled tiredly up at Keith. Keith ran his fingers slowly through Lance's hair, soothingly. Lance closed his eyes and sighed. 

"Keith?" Lance said softly. 

"Yeah?" Keith said and looked down at Lance with concern. 

"Where are the others?" Lance asked without opening his eyes. 

Keith's concern slowly melted away and he sighed in relief. Keith sat on a chair that was next to Lance and caressed Lance's cheek with his thumb. 

"They are all training. There is nothing to worry about." Keith said. 

With that, Lance's eyes flew open. He sat up so quickly that he got dizzy and laid back down again. 

"I-I need to go train with the others." Lance said, breathlessly. 

Keith put a hand on Lance's shoulder to keep him down. 

"No, you need to rest and let your body grow healthy again. You're still very weak." Keith said and watched as Lance's bottom lip trembled. 

"I-I just don't want to be u-useless to the team. All I do is lay on a medical bed all the time." Lance said as he felt a tear escape his right eye. 

Keith frowned and cradled Lance's face in his hands. Lance's eyes went wide as he saw Keith come closer to him. 

"You are not useless. You are the sharpshooter and the heart of the team. You keep us stick together when we need reassurance the most. You always got our back. We all need you. I-I need you." Keith said and mumbled the last part to himself. 

Lance let out a choked sob and wrapped his arms around Keith's neck as he put his face on Keith's shoulder. Keith froze in shock but hugged him back just as tightly. 

"No one ever told me that before. No one ever complemented me before and meant it. Thank you." Lance said and he sobbed into Keith's shoulder. 

How could no one compliment Lance and mean it. Lance is so valuable to the team, Keith thought. Keith got knocked out of his thoughts when he heard Lance hiccup and let out a shaky breath. He frowned and rubbed his back.

"I really meant every word, Lance. You are so valuable to the team, even if you don't know it." Keith said as he lowered Lance back down onto the medical bed. 

Keith looked at Lance and brushed Lance's tears away with his thumb. Once that was done, Keith kissed his forehead and stayed there for a while. 

"Now get some rest, sharpshooter." Keith said as he pulled away from Lance's forehead. 

Lance smiled and closed his eyes. Keith rubbed Lance's arm soothingly and then left. Once he left the room, his smile dropped. How could no one notice that Lance felt that way?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Most of this chapter was fluff and angst but hey, who doesn't like a little bit of klance? But this was a filler chapter and I'm sorry that this was so short :( but I hope you had a good time reading it!


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith tells the team what happened with Lance.

Keith was angrily walking down the hall to the room where they eat, where the rest of the paladins and allura and coran were. He walked into the room and everyone looked at him. 

"Where's Lance? Is he okay?" Shiro asked. 

"He's sleeping. But I need to tell you guys something." Keith said. 

Everyone looked at him with a confused expression. Shiro stood up and walked over to Keith. 

"Did anything happen back there?" Shiro asked as he touched Keith's shoulder with his human arm.

"Yes, something did happen and it's our fault." Keith said as he looked at the rest of the Voltron team.

Everyone looked at each other with a even more confused expression. Keith sighed and ran a hand through his own hair. 

"Lance thinks that he's useless to the team because all he does is lay in a medical bed. And when I told him that he isn't useless because he's our sharpshooter and the heart of the team, and how he reassures us when we need it the most, he told me that no one ever told him that except me. Come on guys, we can't make a voltron member question about his place. I know that he can get very cocky but he still hurts inside. He's still human. We got to fix this." Keith said and then took in a long breath. 

Everyone looked at Keith in shock. 

"I never thought that we would hear those words from you, Keith." Hunk said, happily. 

Keith smiled and looked down. 'It's maybe because I have a crush on him', Keith thought. He got kicked out of his thoughts when Shiro gave Keith a squeeze on the shoulder. 

"Well, lets go to him right now, then." Shiro said as he let go of Keith's shoulder.

"But he's sleeping, Shiro." Pidge said as she went next to Shiro. 

"We need to make this up to him. Sleeping or not." Shiro said as he walked out of the room. 

Everyone followed after Shiro and Keith hesitated but went with them. 

When everyone got to the cortex where Lance was, Keith went up to Lance and gently shook him awake. 

"Hey, Buddy. People are here for you." Keith said softly. 

Lance stretched and groaned/whined while stretching. He then rubbed his eyes to get the sleepiness out of them. 

"Mm, Keith?" Lance said as he opened his eyes. 

Keith smiled and ran a hand through Lance's hair softly. Lance smiled and leaned into his touch. 

"Yeah. Everyone is here for you. We came to say something to you." Keith said. 

Lance's eyebrows went down in confusion. 

"What?" He slurred. 

Shiro smiled fondly and went up to Lance and crouched next to the bed. 

"Hey buddy. We all just wanted you to know that you are so loved and we need you just as much as you need us. You're our sharpshooter and we wouldn't be far in this fight with the Galra if it wasn't for you." Shiro said as he stroked Lance's cheek with his thumb. 

"That's so sweet and thank you. But what brought this on?" Lance asked. 

Hunk went up to Lance and stayed standing up because he didn't feel like sitting down. 

"Because Keith told us that you feel useless to the team. And we want to fix that. It's bad if one of our teammates are questioning their place. We don't want that." Hunk said. 

Lance felt tears starting to build up in his eyes. He started to sit up and people were cautious but he sat up. It took a lot of effort to not fall back on his back. 

"Oh my god, guys. Group hug!" Lance exclaimed as he felt tears starting to roll down his face and he extended his arms for everyone. 

Everyone went to Lance and went for the group hug. Everybody was giggling and smiling. Lance had happy tears running down his face. Shiro kissed Lance's forehead and look Lance directly in the eye. 

"Don't you ever question your place in Voltron." Shiro said. 

Everyone pulled back with huge smiles on their faces and Shiro chuckled. 

"We should give Lance some rest because we disrupted his sleep. Goodnight, Lance." Shiro said as he hugged Lance. 

Lance blushed, smiled, and hugged back. "Goodnight." Lance pulled back and laid back down when Shiro left. 

'And I thought that I was the team's sharpshooter but I guess no one else thinks that.' Lance thought right before he fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's more coming up! And lance's self consciousness isn't gone yet!


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After two weeks, Lance and the rest of the paladins are back in the lions taking back a planet called Antaeus from the Galra. Things don't go as planned.

Two weeks has passed and Lance was back in Blue. He sighed and closed his eyes. He felt like he couldn't do this, he felt like he didn't have the strength. Blue purred worriedly and prodded at his brain.

"I'm okay, Blue. Just keep me safe out there, Beautiful. Okay?" Lance said, his voice shaking a little bit. Blue purred in agreement and the lights in the cockpit started up.

Lance smiled and gripped the handles tightly. "Let's go." And with that, they flew off to space with the rest of the team.

Once he caught up with the team, Galra ships were already shooting at them. Lance turned on the coms and everyone was shouting. "Lance! Where were you?! We have been getting shot at while you were goofing off." Keith shouted.

"Keith! Stay focused," Shiro said. "Alright. Once we get free from some of the ships, Lance and Keith go into the main Galra ship that is bringing the Galra fleet out here and deal with the Galra. Hunk and I will deal with these guys and Pidge you will bring Lance and Keith to the main Galra ship with your cloak and then you will go into the main deck to help Lance and Keith around. Lance, Keith, set down your lions on Antaeus. Got it?" "Got it." Everyone said but Lance.

Lance felt that something wasn't going to go right with this plan. Something will go terribly wrong. But Lance quickly shook it off and started to attack the Galra.

Once it was somewhat cleared, Lance and Keith started to fly to Antaeus. Some Galra ships were shooting at them but both of them were dodging the blasts.

Once they landed on Anateus, Pidge came down as well and opened her lion's mouth for them to come in. "Hurry! Let's go!" Pidge yelled in the coms. Lance and Keith ran out of their lions and into Pidge's lion. Blue and Red both turned off and put a partical barrier around themselves.

'Be careful, Blue.', Lance thought. Then he felt a reassuring purr in his head. He smiled and turned to look out to the attack. "Did you put the cloak on, Pidge?" Lance asked. "Yes Lance, I remembered." Pidge snapped with a attitude. Lance looked at her with shock but then his face turned neutral like nothing happened. He sighed and gripped his hands that were on the green lion's pilot chair.

"Get ready to jump out." Keith said to Lance. Lance nodded and went over to the drop off zone. Pidge started to count off the seconds until they jumped out. 1-2-3. Keith and Lance jumped out and landed on the ship. Keith thrusted his swords into the ship and turned it until it made a circle.

"I don't know where this will take us but here goes nothing." Keith said. "I don't think that we should-" Lance started to say but Keith already jumped in. "Be doing this..." Lance rolled his eyes and jumped in as well.

When he landed, they were both faced with 10 Galra surrounding them. "Oh no." Lance said softly.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While trying to defeat the Galra, something goes terribly wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Two updates in one day! I'm doing this because I feel bad for the long wait. I hope you like it :)

"Oh no." Lance said softly. Every Galra that surrounded them had there gun pointed at the both of them. Keith growled at them and swung his sword at one Galra and started a fight between them two. 

A Galra started to shoot at Lance and Lance squeaked and jumped out of the way. Lance shot at the Galra and it was a perfect shot. The Galra fell down in a very satisfying way for Lance. His satisfactory quickly vanished when a blast was shot too close to the side of his face. Everything went in slow motion for Lance when he was watching the blast move past him. 

Then, everything came back up to speed and Lance started to shoot at that Galra. He got a shot right in the middle of the Galra's armor but then he felt a blast hit his leg in the back. Lance shouted in pain and turned around. 

Lance felt anger run through him like water. Then, he was shooting every Galra right in the chest. He didn't care that there was blood gushing out of his calf but that suddenly changed when he finished the last Galra. Lance felt all of the pain in his calf and he fell down. 

A hand gripped his bicep and he looked up to see Keith staring down at him. Keith helped Lance to stand up and put Lance's arm across Keith's shoulders. He helped Lance walking but Lance was still limping. 

And hit hurt like hell. Lance was biting his lip so hard that he was sure that he was making blood. All of his hope was gone when he saw more than ten Galra in the hallway, there was now twenty. Lance groaned and slowly took his arm off of Keith's shoulders. 

He grunted and started to shoot at a Galra that was closest to him. He missed by three shots but got it right by the forth. Lance was getting slow.

When he was about to shoot at another one, he heard a wail that came from Keith. Lance turned around quickly and saw Keith on the floor, unconscious. 

He stared down at Keith in shock. Then he felt someone put him in a chokehold. Lance panicked and gripped at the hands. He remembered that his coms were still on. 

"Shiro! Hunk! Pidge! Anyone?! Help!" He shouted, his voice cracking with every word. 

Lance felt tears starting to run down his face. He could feel his breath slowly starting to fade away. 

"Please don't take us." Lance sobbed. 

"We know what you are, paladin." A galra said in his ear. 

With that, he passed out from the lack of oxygen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is it bad that I listened to 'words fail' from Dear Evan Hansen while writing this to get ideas? No? Okay.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Lance awoke, he was in a room with no windows and a metal door. No way out.

When Lance awoke, he looked around his room and saw that there was no windows and a metal door. He was wearing a galra prisoner uniform and was strapped to a metal table and the traps were tight. So tight that they were not letting him breathe. Lance started to try to wiggle free but it just made the straps tighter. He was struggling to breathe when someone came into the room. Footsteps came up beside Lance and he turned his head to the sound. 

There was a man with long white hair and a smirk on his lips. Lance could tell that he wicked just by the way he looked at Lance. 

"Well hello there, Paladin. How are you doing in this amazing hospitality?" The man said with a sarcastic voice. 

Lance didn't say anything, he just looked at him with a harsh glare. The man's smirk grew larger from that glare. 

"Oh! I didn't introduce myself, dear paladin. My name is Prince Lotor. But just call me Lotor. My dad is Zarkon as you can probably tell." Lotor said. 

Lance rolled his eyes and looked the other way. He just wants to go back with the others. 'Speaking of others, is Keith okay?! Is he captured as well?' Lance thought with panic running through his body. Lance got pulled out of his thoughts when Lotor grabbed his chin and pulled it to him to he was looking at Lotor. He felt Lotor's nails digging into his cheek. Lance did his best not to wince. 

"I heard what you are, Paladin. The fellow galra told me all about it. How does it happen? How does the transformation start?" Lotor asked. 

Lotor's hand left his cheek and onto his legs. His hand was running up and down his legs. Lance tried to kick his legs for my to stop but the straps held them in place and tightened even more. As the straps tightened around his legs, Lance let out a pitiful whimper. His legs were starting to cramp up. 

"I asked you a question, paladin. How does it happen?" Lotor asked and the hand was back on his cheek again. 

Lance didn't answer because he was too focused on the pain of his legs. When Lance didn't answer, Lotor slapped his face slightly but hard enough to leave a sting. Lance let out a big huff and looked at Lotor. 

"How. Does. It. Happen?" Lotor said. Every word was articulated. 

Lance gulped hard and looked at his legs. He sincerely didn't know. But he knew that Lotor wouldn't trust that, but he had to say the truth.

"I-I don't know." Lance said, in a weak voice. 

Lotor laughed and shook his head in disbelief. Then, he left the room without any explanation. Lance looked at the door in confusion but then he heard the same footsteps from the same shoes come by the door. 'What is he doing?' Lance thought. 

When Lotor came into the room, he was holding a liter of water. He had the same smirk as before on his face. Lance had is eyebrows furrowed together. 'Don't tell me that he's going to pour that on me,' Lance thought. 'But isn't that what happened last time? Shiro and Hunk put me in a container filled with water and I had a tail. Oh no. This might actually work.' 

"This is filled with water. I'm going to use it on you to see if you turn half fish. Or whatever you humans call it." Lotor said. 

Lance looked at him with wide eyes and he was never this scared before. The galra knowing that he's a mermaid? Can't they use that against him? Lance let out a huff and looked at the liter that was on Lotor's hand. The cap wasn't on the bottle anymore and it was coming closer to his legs. Then, Lotor's hand moved so fast and the water splashed all over his legs. Lance felt the same exact pain as when he first transformed. He winced and squeezed his eyes shut. 

Then he didn't feel his legs anymore, he knew that he had his tail right now. There were no more pain except for the straps digging into his tail. And it wasn't good that he still had on his prisoner uniform and the pants were still on but the sides were ripped. Lance felt the pants come off and felt his tail go free. He opened his eyes and saw his blue/green tail out in front of him. 

Lotor was looking down at his tail with a smirk. He ran his fingers across Lance's tail and Lance whined and turned his head to the left so he wouldn't see Lotor. Lotor smiled widely and looked at Lance's face and saw it tensed up in displeasure. 

"Magnificent, your tail is more sensitive then your actual legs." Lotor said darkly, with a chuckle. 

And then he left, with Lance still in the room, strapped to the table with no water or anything for his tail.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is what happens when you leave Lance with no water...
> 
> fyi, Lotor is creepy in this yikers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA I'm so sorry! I haven't uploaded in such a long time! I promise that I'll try to keep up with the updates! Hope you like this chapter :)

It has been about an hour since Lotor has left. Lance has no food or water. When Lance is in the mermaid state, his need for food and water gets higher, or else he'll die. So, at this moment, Lance was not holding up. His tail turned into a grey color and he was gasping for air. Little beads of sweat formed on his forehead, some sliding down his face. He was having a trouble breathing, his vision was blurry and there were black dots in his vision. 

He heard the door open, and he didn't have the strength to look at the person. "Oh my," It was Lotor. "The side effects of having no water or food are very promising." He says as he circles around Lance. Lotor grabbed the liter of water and dropped a dribble of water onto Lance's tail. Lance gasped at the feeling and whines when there was no more. 

Lotor chuckled and shook his head. "Oh, my dear paladin. You have to prove yourself worthy of water first, then you shall get all the water you need." Lotor says and smirks. Lance clenched his eyes shut and breathed heavily. 

"W-What do you need me to do?" Lance asks, his voice hoarse. Lotor's fingers were tapping the bottle as he was walking around Lance. "Well, let's see. You have to beg for it. It would be very lovely to see the mighty blue paladin of Voltron beg." He says as he emphasizes on very. 

Lance opens his eyes and glares at Lotor. "No." Lance says, strongly. Lotor's eyes widen and make a surprised expression. "Oh! So what I'm getting is, that you don't need the water that much?" Lotor asks, and teases Lance with shaking the bottle in front of Lance's face. 

His eyes widen at the sight of the water and he gulps. Lotor smirks. "I will gladly give you all of this water in this very bottle if you do only one tiny thing," Lotor says. He ran his fingernails up Lance's tail and Lance's tail curls up in response. Lotor continues to run his fingers over Lance's tail. 

"S-stop." Lance says, his voice cracks. Lotor hums and shakes his head. "That's not what I wanted to hear, but that's a good start." He says as he stops with Lance's tail. 

Lance was growing weaker every second that passed by. He was breathing heavier now and his skin wasn't that golden tan anymore. In fact, it was very pale with a hint of tan. Lotor ran his fingers on Lance's chest and hummed. "Come on, paladin. I'm waiting." Lotor said. 

Then, Lance finally snapped. His strength was gone, he didn't care anymore. He needed that water at any cost. 

"L-Lotor," Lance breathed out. "Hm?" Lotor hummed and looked up at Lance. "P-please give me the water. P-please, I need it. I-I'll do whatever you want me to, j-just give me some water!" Lance weakly shouted. 

Lotor hummed and took the cap off of the bottle. "Very good, my sweet paladin." He praised and poured all of the water onto Lance. "Oh! And when you said that you'll do anything, I'll be happy to take that offer. Now, I shall leave, my beautiful blue. Rest." Lotor says and walks out of the room.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro, Hunk, Pidge, Allura, and Coran try to find out what happened to Keith and Lance.

“Keith?! Lance?!” Shiro yelled into the com. No answer. Were they captured? Are they hurt? Shiro was starting to get a unsettling feeling in his chest, and it felt like he couldn’t breathe. 

What if Keith and Lance had to go through what he went through?

“Guys, Keith and Lance are missing. They aren’t responding to the coms.” Shiro said to the team. 

“I knew that bringing Lance onto the mission was a bad idea!” Hunk said through the coms. “He’s still recovering.” He says, angry. 

“Maybe I can see what their last coordinates were.” Pidge says and puts up the map of the galra ship. She saw red and blue dots by the center of the ship, close to the command center. 

“They were by the command center, at the center of the ship, about two hours ago.” She says and looks closer at the map. “There were also ten galra soldiers right by them. So the logical answer is that they were captured.” Pidge says. 

“We just don’t know where, at the moment.” Coran says and rubs his mustache. 

“Knowing my experience,” Shiro says. “They are probably on another galra ship. Maybe even the main ship, that has the higher galra, and Prince Lotor.” Shiro says and crosses his arms over his chest. 

“From my understanding, that would be the ship that has the most protection.” Allura says and sighs. “We can’t give up.” 

——————————————————————

When Keith was captured, he wasn’t tied up like Lance was. So, he looked around the room to find a way out and get Lance to safety. Who knows what the galra are doing to Lance right now.

While he was searching around the room, he heard a knock on the door. Keith panicked and acted like he wasn’t doing anything suspicious. 

The door opened, revealing a cocky looking Prince Lotor. “What are you smiling about?” Keith asked, clear hatred in his voice. 

“Oh, you know. I love watching your friend suffer. It is very delightful.” Lotor says and his smile widens. 

Keith’s eyes widen in rage and charges at Lotor. He was about to punch him in the face, but Lotor caught his fist in his hand. 

“Dear Paladin, it will take more than that to hurt me.” He says, cockily and chuckles. Lotor began to squeeze his fist, making Keith’s fist bend in a way that would make his whole fist break. 

Keith shouts and tried to pull his hand back, but Lotor was too strong. His hand felt like it was crumbling into pieces. (Which it was). 

He screamed when his fist finally broke, Lotor heard a loud crack and let go of his fist. Lotor watched as Keith’s fist dropped to his side with no movement. 

“You’re a monster.” Keith spat at Lotor. Some spit landed on Lotor’s face and he wiped it off with his index finger. 

“I’m very aware of that, thank you for reminding me.” Lotor says and laughs. Keith watched as he left the room. 

After Lotor left the room, Keith let his mask fall. He started to sob uncontrollably at the pain in his fist. Keith held his wrist and watched his fist go limp in his hold. 

The fist was turning purple quickly and the pain got more and more painful. Keith was shouting and coughing from the pain. 

The pain was so great, that it made Keith pass out. 

In Lance’s cell, Lance heard screaming that sounded like Keith. His eyes widen and he tried to fight the bonds that was holding him down. 

“Keith! Keith!!” Lance shouts. Lance was scared, scared beyond belief. He scared because he doesn’t know what’s happening to Keith right now.


End file.
